With This Save, It’s Beck Who Is Most Relieved

First comes the beer. Then comes the cigarette. Rod Beck settles down in front of his locker after the game.

This is the veteran right-hander in his natural state, relaxed, shooting the breeze. Just an ordinary guy.

But this has not been an ordinary week.

The last three days have marked Beck’s return to 3Com Park for the first time since he left the San Francisco Giants for the free-agent market last winter. He came back in a Chicago Cubs’ uniform.

“I figured it would be no big deal,” he said.

He figured wrong.

The stadium looked exactly the same as it had during his decade with the Giants’ organization. The mound was no different. Still, he felt weird.

Entering the game with an 8-5 lead in the ninth inning on Monday night, Beck listened for the crowd’s response. He got a mixture of cheers and boos. Understandable.

Then he walked two batters to put the potential tying run at the plate. Highly unusual for a pitcher who averages little more than a dozen bases on balls per season.

“The ball was going everywhere,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever walked two men in an inning in my whole career.”

To make matters worse, he had to face Barry Bonds. Beck got the save, his 34th of the season, but not before Bonds hit a fly ball to the warning track.

“I guess it was destiny that I had to walk those two guys to face Barry,” Beck said. “Otherwise it’s not going to be any fun.”

He let out a quick laugh.

“I mean, it costs a lot of money for a family of four to go to a ball game these days,” he said. “You’ve got to give them their money’s worth.”

That’s pretty much what Beck did during his time with San Francisco.

The Giants traded for him in 1988, when he was still a prospect in the Oakland Athletics’ farm system, not much more than a kid out of Grant High.

Within four years, Beck was pitching for the big-league club. Over the next six-plus seasons, he became famous for more than just his flowing hair and Fu Manchu mustache. He amassed 199 saves, including a streak of 41 without a blown save from 1993 to 1995.

Beck admits to feeling a little hurt when San Francisco did not re-sign him in the off-season, going after Florida Marlin closer Robb Nen instead. But there is no lingering ill-will.

The last few days, he has caught up with former teammates and coaches, even chatted with Giant owner Peter Magowan.

“They’re the ones who gave me my first chance,” Beck said. “I love [Manager] Dusty Baker like he was a brother or an uncle.”

Besides, the move to Chicago has been a good one. Beck got a one-year contract for $3.5 million, the team is a contender and the fans have been truly fanatical.

“We started the season 8-2 and everybody wanted to buy World Series tickets,” he said.

Even better, Beck has silenced critics who said he is too old at 30 and has lost too much velocity from his fastball.

“They’ve been talking about that so long, I don’t care anymore,” he said. “To tell you the truth, if you look back . . . I’ve always been a control-type pitcher. I can throw the ball over the plate.”

Except, perhaps, when he’s pitching for the other team in his old ball park.